Every new hunter pet ability in WoW Forever
Ten pet families got a new ability in WoW Forever, from the bear's Swipe to the bat's Sonic Blast. Here is what each one does.
September 26, 2026 · 3 min read · WoW Forever Pets
Ten pet families have a new ability in WoW Forever. In Classic, seven of the seventeen families had nothing special. Bears, crabs, crocolisks, hyenas, raptors, spiders and tallstriders were all 
Bite and 
Claw. Now nearly every family has something of its own, and owls swapped Screech for a disarm.
The numbers below are the top rank from the Forever game data, so they describe a level 60 pet. The beta caps at 20, so your pet will be on a lower rank for now.
Which pet families got new abilities?
| Family | Ability | What it does at top rank |
|---|---|---|
| Bear |  Swipe | Hits 3 nearby enemies for 20 to 22. 20 focus, 5 sec cooldown |
| Raptor |  Savage Rend | Bleed for 156 over 18 sec. 50 focus, 1 min cooldown |
| Hyena |  Tendon Rip | 60 damage over 9 sec and a 50% slow. 25 focus, 30 sec cooldown |
| Crocolisk |  Dismember | 50 to 58 damage and 25% less healing for 6 sec. 35 focus, 15 sec cooldown |
| Spider |  Web | Roots the target and deals 52 Nature over 4 sec. 20 yards, 40 sec cooldown |
| Crab |  Pinch | 88 to 102 damage and a 50% slow. 50 focus, 30 sec cooldown |
| Tallstrider |  Dust Cloud | Lowers armor by 505 for 30 sec. 10 focus |
| Bird of Prey |  Mine! | 41 to 47 damage and a 3 sec disarm. 20 focus, 1.5 min cooldown |
| Fox | Trickster's Dance | +50% dodge and 30% faster attacks for 12 sec. About 3 min cooldown |
| Bat | Sonic Blast | 77 to 91 Nature damage and 30% slower spell casting for 20 sec. 1 min cooldown |
Trickster's Dance is the only one without a tooltip in the database yet. The numbers come from testers, and the cooldown is their estimate.
What do the early ranks look like?
Testers have posted a few rank 1 tooltips, and they are a lot smaller. Savage Rend 1 bleeds for 30 over 18 seconds. Tendon Rip 1 deals 12 over 9 seconds. A level 13 bear's Swipe hit 3 targets for 4 damage each, for 10 focus.
The slow and the root matter more than the damage at these levels. Tendon Rip slows by 50% at rank 1, same as at rank 5.
Which new ability is best for leveling?
Swipe, for most people. It is the only one that holds more than one mob, so a bear can keep two or three off you while you shoot. You can learn it from the Giant Grizzled Bear in Silverpine and teach it to any bear. The bear family page has the details.
Tendon Rip is the pick if you kite. A hyena can apply the slow on its own, even around a corner you cannot see past.
What changed for bats and Sonic Blast?
The bat family gets Sonic Blast, which increases its target's spell casting time by 30% for 20 seconds. Its cooldown is 1 minute. Blizzard reduced the casting slowdown from 60% and doubled the cooldown on 15 October.
The same update weakened the crocolisk's Dismember and the bird of prey's Mine!. Dismember now cuts healing by 25% for 6 seconds on a 15 second cooldown. Mine! disarms for 3 seconds and has a 1.5 minute cooldown.
The October 15 hunter pet nerfs post has the old and new values side by side.
Every ability, old and new, is on the abilities page with its full tooltip.
Frequently asked questions
How many new Hunter pet abilities are in WoW Forever?
This guide covers ten new family abilities in WoW Forever. They add damage and control tools across several pet families.
Which pet ability is best for kiting?
Tendon Rip is the guide's kiting pick because a hyena brings a 50% slow. The slow matters more than the damage when you need to create distance.
Where can I compare every Hunter pet ability?
The abilities page lists the family abilities and their current tooltips. Use it with the tame finder to choose a family and then find a beast near your level.
- Abilities
- Database